60 Sharp Street, Hingham, MA facebook.com/uppababy. why small is sobig

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1 60 Sharp Street, Hingham, MA facebook.com/uppababy why small is sobig

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3 BECAUSE THINKING SMALL IS SMARTER In general, people want to do the right thing. But at big companies, politics and processes often get in the way. That s why at UPPAbaby we do things differently. Sweat the small stuff so parents don t have to. That pretty much sums up our business plan. As co-founders Bob and Lauren see it, the beauty of being a small company is having the flexibility to base every single business, design, manufacturing, service, and sales decision every little thing we do on what will have the biggest impact for parents. In other words, we put parents first. Is that a smart way to run a company? Our customers think so and that s all that matters.

4 BABY STEPS Like most companies, UPPAbaby was born out of necessity and opportunity. It all came together around the time Bob and Lauren had their second child. When they couldn t find the right baby gear AGAIN, Bob wondered why their only options were either mass-produced, cheaply made hunks of plastic or very expensive imports that required a lengthy instruction manual to operate. With more than 10 years of experience in the juvenile industry, Bob was sure parents wanted more, and he had an idea for how to give it to them: Let s make a stroller for parents that makes their lives easier and better. When Bob quit his job and started UPPAbaby, he didn t have a 5-year plan. But he knew that as long as he took one step after another in the right direction, he could create a high-performance stroller that not only met, but exceeded the needs of new parents and let them keep their sense of style. In the beginning, Bob was the only full-time UPPA employee, with Mike and Trung consulting on the side. Within about a year, Lauren joined part-time as head of sales. There was no VC money. So the company had to sell great products from Day 1 to pay the bills and keep building gear. Over the next few years, UPPAbaby grew bit by bit, organically, into a company with more than 60 employees. Today, UPPA sells its baby gear, which includes a full line of strollers and accessories, and an innovative infant car seat, worldwide.

5 HOW UPPABABY GOT ITS NAME For Bob and Lauren, naming the company was almost as tough as naming their babies. They went through literally hundreds of names. They even considered combining their kids names, Jake and Makena. But Jakena just didn t cut it. Like so many things in life, the answer was right in front of them all along. One day when Bob and Lauren were at home with their children, Makena (who was almost 2 at the time) raised her little arms and said what she always did when she wanted to be picked up: uppa, uppa! Out of the mouths of babes that s how UPPAbaby finally got its name.

6 At UPPAbaby, we use the word smart a lot. Not because we think we re so brilliant, but because smart really defines what we stand for and how we do things. Of course, smart can mean many things to many people. Here s what it means to Bob, Trung, Lauren, Robin, and the rest of us at UPPA. Smart simply means doing what s best for parents.

7 smart is... Spending every working minute thinking about how to make parents lives easier Perfecting what already works Carrying repair parts for 5-year-old strollers The best, most convenient, hassle-free way for customers to report an issue A company structure Robin Holler Customer Service Bob Monahan Co-Founder as flat as a pancake Beer Fridays Making every product feature count Having a purpose Having a say Thinking like new parents Getting that diapers explode Not putting your life on hold Never giving up the dream Keeping kids happy by Lauren Monahan Co-Founder Trung Phung Product Development keeping their parents happy Common sense Wild ideas Boutique retailers Growing opportunities Spending more on product development Spending less on marketing Putting customer service at the heart of the company Getting fresh air Valuing time more than money Thinking small Doing the right thing Helping parents be great moms and dads

8 THE BIG PICTURE IS IN EVERY DESIGN DETAIL Trung and his team are obsessed and for good reason. They know only too well that even the tiniest design tweak can have a HUGE impact on parents lives. That s why they weigh each and every decision they make and action they take against how it will affect moms and dads. As Trung puts it, It s not about what s convenient for the designers or cheapest for manufacturing. It s about making intuitive gear parents can use easily, that fits with their lifestyle, that kids enjoy being in. The proof that this single-minded design philosophy works is in our parent pleasing features: the telescoping handle; shock-absorbent wheels; humongous basket; higher rear axle; stylish, functional fabrics; fool-proof indicators; side-impact protection; and more.

9 CUSTOMER SERVICE IS OUR NOT-SO-SECRET WEAPON It s shocking how many companies don t get that customer service is a BIG deal which is probably why they outsource it or neglect it altogether. Parents tell us all the time that at UPPAbaby our service is as awesome as our products. They love that we back up what we build, that we want to hear if they have an issue and that we welcome any ideas they might have for making our baby gear even better. Putting customer service at the heart of our company seems like a genius move now. But it never occurred to us to do anything else. Robin and her team are UPPA s lifeline to what parents really want. Customer service needs to be joined at the hip with product development, sales, marketing with everyone at the company because the faster they can share what they hear from customers in real time, the faster we can respond and improve our products, and the faster we can build the kind of gear that makes parents and kids happier.

10 IT S THE LITTLE THINGS At UPPAbaby, thinking small is the only way we know how to do business. We don t want to rule the world, but we do want to grow in smart ways. So we ll keep doing what we ve always done. We ll keep asking everyone who is part of the UPPA family to be on the lookout for even the tiniest way to do better. So that we can keep making the kind of baby gear that help moms and dads be great parents.